1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic assemblies and more specifically to electrical connectors for interconnecting circuit boards.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Electrical connectors are used in many electronic systems. It is generally easier and more cost effective to manufacture a system on several printed circuit boards (“PCBs”) that are connected to one another by electrical connectors than to manufacture a system as a single assembly. A traditional arrangement for interconnecting several PCBs is to have one PCB serve as a backplane. Other PCBs, which are called daughter boards or daughter cards, are then connected through the backplane by electrical connectors.
Additionally, electrical connectors are used to make connections between other components of electronic assemblies. For example, electrical connectors may be used to connect daughter cards containing circuitry to motherboards, to connect extension boards to printed circuit boards, to connect cables to printed circuit boards or to connect chips to printed circuit boards.
Conventional circuit board electrical connectors are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,391 to Mickievicz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,440 to Rothermel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,966 to Rothermel et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,267,604 to Mickievicz et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,171,115 to Mickievicz et al., the subject matter of each of which is incorporated by reference.
Other examples of electrical connectors are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,827, U.S. Pat. No. 6,503,103 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,659, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.